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|publisher =Typographica
|publisher =Typographica
|accessdate = November 4, 2011
|accessdate = November 4, 2011
}}</ref> It was released for the first time in 2011 with Android 4.0, [[Android Ice Cream Sandwich|Ice Cream Sandwich]].<ref name="Sandwich">{{cite web |url=http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/10/android-ice-cream-sandwich-3/ |title=Google's New Font |author= |date=October 19, 2011 |work=Wired |publisher=Wired |accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> Compared Android's previous system font, the humanist sans-serif design [[Droid fonts|Droid]], it adopts a more stark grotesque design with oblique styles rather than true italics, and a wider range of weights.
}}</ref> It was released for the first time in 2011 with Android 4.0, [[Android Ice Cream Sandwich|Ice Cream Sandwich]].<ref name="Sandwich">{{cite web |url=http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/10/android-ice-cream-sandwich-3/ |title=Google's New Font |author= |date=October 19, 2011 |work=Wired |publisher=Wired |accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> Compared to Android's previous system font, the humanist sans-serif design [[Droid fonts|Droid]], it adopts a more stark grotesque design with oblique styles rather than true italics, and a wider range of weights.


==Reception==
==Reception==

Revision as of 13:01, 5 January 2015

Roboto
CategorySans-serif
ClassificationGrotesque
Designer(s)Christian Robertson
Commissioned byGoogle
Date created2011
LicenseApache License
For the Masters of the Universe character, see Roboto (Masters of the Universe).
Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" features the Roboto font

Roboto is a neo-grotesque sans-serif typeface family developed by Google as the system font for its Android operating system. Google describes the font as "modern, yet approachable" and "emotional".[1][2] The font is licensed under the Apache license.[3] The entire font family was officially made available for free download on January 12, 2012, on the newly launched Android Design website. The family includes Thin, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold and Black weights with matching oblique styles. It also includes condensed styles in Light, Regular and Bold, also with matching oblique designs.

Unicode coverage

Available characters can be viewed at the Roboto page on Google Fonts.

Development

The font was designed entirely in-house at Google by Christian Robertson, an interface designer for Google, who previously had released an expanded Ubuntu-Title font through his personal type foundry Betatype.[4][5] It was released for the first time in 2011 with Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich.[6] Compared to Android's previous system font, the humanist sans-serif design Droid, it adopts a more stark grotesque design with oblique styles rather than true italics, and a wider range of weights.

Reception

Typography commentator Stephen Coles of typographica.org called Roboto “a Four-headed Frankenfont”, describing it as a “hodgepodge” of different typographic styles which end up not working well together.[7] Other type design professionals called out obvious errors in accented glyphs,[8] while John Gruber called the font a “Helvetica ripoff”.[9] Joshua Topolsky, Editor-In-Chief of technology news and media network The Verge, describes the font as "clean and modern, but not overly futuristic – not a science fiction font".[10]

Usage

The font is the default on the Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. It has been announced that the font will be the default font in XBMC, a free and open source media player.[11]

Since 15 May 2013, it is also the default font of Google+ and Google Play, and is used in Google Maps.[12]

The range of weights of Roboto

Redesign

Roboto Slab

On June 25, 2014, Matias Duarte announced at Google I/O that the Roboto typeface was significantly redesigned for Android "Lollipop", the newest version of the OS. The new version is available at the material design website. The most significant changes are seen in the glyphs R, K, g, 1, 6, 7, and 9. Additionally, punctuation marks and the tittles in the lowercase i and j have been changed from a square dot to a circle dot.

Roboto Slab

Roboto Slab is a slab serif font based on Roboto. It was introduced in March 2013, as the default font in Google's note-taking service Google Keep.[13] It has been released in four weights: thin, light, regular and bold. Unlike regular Roboto, no oblique versions have been released for it.

See also

  • Droid, the default font for older versions of Android

References

  1. ^ "New Design Philosophy of Ice Cream Sandwich". Engadget. Engadget. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  2. ^ "Design of Roboto". MSN. MSN. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  3. ^ "Roboto license".
  4. ^ "Association with Google and Betatype". Christian Robertson. Christian Robertson. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  5. ^ "Roboto is a Four-headed Frankenfont". Typographica. Typographica. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  6. ^ "Google's New Font". Wired. Wired. October 19, 2011. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  7. ^ http://typographica.org/on-typography/roboto-typeface-is-a-four-headed-frankenstein/
  8. ^ https://twitter.com/typefacts/status/126604754871795712
  9. ^ http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/10/19/roboto-v-helvetica
  10. ^ "Exclusive: Matias Duarte on the philosophy of Android, and an in-depth look at Ice Cream Sandwich". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  11. ^ http://xbmc.org/natethomas/2012/06/05/xbmc-11-0-may-cycle/
  12. ^ Graham-Smith, Darien. Hands on with the new Google Maps, May 17th, 2013
  13. ^ Spradlin, Liam. "Closer Look: Google Keep Actually Shipped With A New (Serif) Font – Introducing Roboto Slab". Android Police. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
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